A Drama about the FBI’s Youngest Informant turned Detroit Crack Kingpin. Set in 1980s Detroit, at the Height of the City’s Crack Epidemic and taking Place in seedy East Side Neighborhoods where Kids hang out at the Roller Rink when they’re not shooting Rats for Fun. The Film is permeated by an Atmosphere of Grimy Hopelessness that makes it Hard to watch.... Rick Wershe Jr., went from Underage Drug Kingpin to FBI Plant to Prisoner. A Wild West Vision of Late 20th-Century Urban America.

By 14, Rick Wershe Jr. (Richie Merritt) could tell a Real Russian Kalashnikov Assault Rifle from an AK-47 knock-off, Courtesy of his Firearms-Hustling Dad, Richie Sr. (Matthew McConaughey). He also hung with the African-American Gangs who ran the Drug Trade in Detroit in 1984. By 15, he’d been recruited by Two Feds (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Rory Cochrane) and a Local Narcotics Cop (Brian Tyree Henry) to do “Buys” for them, so they could try to build a Case and nab the Big Fish running Things. So Rick seems Legit, they teach him how to make Crack. By 16, Rick would become a Dad, get shot in the Stomach, help send his Former Running Partners to Prison and go into the Pushing-Heavy-Weight Business along with his Dad. And by 17, the Kid would Inadvertently help put a Number of Corrupt Cops away and, after being Sold Down the River by the FBI, be sentenced to Life in Prison himself.

WHITE BOY RICK Source: Sony Pictures Releasing France

WHITE BOY RICK Source: Sony Pictures Releasing France

Matthew McCONAUGHEY Source: Sony Pictures Releasing France

OUR REVIEW

“White Boy Rick” covers a Span of Only Three to Four Years. Yet within that Brief Window, the Film charts its Adolescent Antihero’s Unlikely Rise and Predictable Fall, from Law-EnforcementOoperative to Outlaw. The Film isn’t saying much about the Reagan-Era War on Drugs, the Hypocrisy that characterized it. The Film has the Potential to use Wershe’s Story to tell a Larger One about the Environment that made him and locked him up. Richard Wershe Jr is the Very Embodiment of the Phrase “Too Much Too Young", as the Facts of his Rather Crazy, Real-Life Case aren’t Widely Known... Definitely, To Watch... Amazing Story !

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